But now they're trying to cope with this sort-of airline strike by their pilots, and they're not doing well. Last week a sitting member of the United States Senatethat would be one of the hundred human beings currently serving in the upper chamber of the United States Congresstweeted his frustration with the airline. Hashtag: #cmonman.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio further noted that "every American flight" he had been on that week had been "at least two hours late or cancelled." Then he further further noted that the airline's rolling delays, which were cascading across their network as out-bound flights waited for the arrival of late connectors, were the "oldest trick in book."

The chaos stems from a dispute between American's management and pilots. The background is straightforward: American is in bankruptcy court, where a judge has linked the airline's high labor costs to its lack of financial stability. American wants to decrease pilot pay, which even the pilot's union has admitted is more than what American's competitors pay. Pilots have responded - allegedly - with work slowdowns, sick days, and flight groundings, and by in general making the entire airline "too unreliable" to book. If you want more details they involve contracts being almost accepted and then other last-minute final contracts being created and so on. But really it just looks like any airline work slowdown.